The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-07-18
HOW GREAT MEN WRITE.
Something About the Manuscripts
Sent to the Public Printer.


Sent to the Public Printer.
One of the brightest printers of those en-
! plOyed on the Congressional Record gives
me some interesting facts about how our
! Congressman prepare their speeches, as
! serts q contributor to the Washington Post.
! He says that out of the 325 members of the
House less than ten now furnish their own
manuscripts to the printers, and that OF
! these Warner of Ohio is the worst writer,
while Breckenridge of Kentucky is
about the best. warmers copy" he says,
sis full of interlineations and revisions
| 1t looks like the tracks of drunken hen or
an intoxicated fly who has crawled in iI'reg-
ular lines across the sheet. 1t is readable,
! however, by those who are accustomed toit,
and it looks much better in the Record than
| il does in manuscript Breckenridge writes
a very nice hand. He dictates some of his
| speeches to the typewriter and furnishes
| others in pen and ink Holman the great
| objector, writes very well for an old man
He shows his character in his handwriting
and makes the letters small and puts the
lines close together He does this, suppose,
Reeds copy at all He always speaks ex-
| temporaneously, and his chief work in Con
| gress is in making short speeches. His
average speech is line and a half long,
| but he sometimes rises to the occasion and
makes fiery political speech which reads
as smoothly as though it had been carefully
prepared.
"Knute Nelson developed into a prom-
nent speaker this year. Last year he didn't
| say one word. This year he and Hepburn
| were, next to Holman, the most chronic OBJ
| jectors. Dick Townshend, of Illinois, is a
| good friend of the printers He writes
good hand and his copy is well prepared for
the press. Sam Cox furnishes as poor copy
as any that comes into the office. His hand
iS q vI al
suits him. He uses old envelopes news
paper wrappers and scraps of any deScrip
ton He pastes his manuscript together
He interlines it, recOrrectS it, and some of
his copy looks as bad as the hieroglyphics
on the tomb of III He is great fellow to
correct proofs, also, and though his speeches
are very good it costs the government some
thing to get them.
Senator Call of Florida, is another man
who is not particular as to his paper. The
back of an envelope, piece of a circus bill
or common printers paper suits him as well
as anything else Calls hand is very hard
to read. He writes the first letter of a word
very plainly and then makes a running dash
with his pen for the rest. Half of his words
are alike and none of them are easy to make
| out Dan Voorhees, writes many of his
speeches. He uses large sheets of printing
paper of the same size and neatly cut
Hawley furnishes splendid copy He is an
old editor and knows how to get his stuff
up for the press.
-"We seldom get anything from Randall
or Carlisle. Randall's matter comes from
| the stenographers of the House, and Car
Isle doesn't make the long speeches. so full
of statistics which he used to make several
years ago. Morrison didn't appear on the
floor very often during the recent session for
a leader of the House. He has his lieuten-
ants speak for him, and thus you see that
WIN orn
considered the leaders of the Democrats
furnish as little matter as the country mem
bers from Wayback.
1.-THE three Republicans who furnish the
most copy are Burrough Hiscock and But
terwOrth, and great many of the members
never speak upon the floor at all. Hutton,
of Missouri, last year made a speech of one
line in length. It was: Mr.. Chairman, l
submit the following report"
Most of the long speeches are printed in
| pamphlet form, are they notF
YES; | should say that 99100 of them
are SO issued. The members get them
| printed at about cost price, and thus they
| throughout the United States BeckS
| speech on silver had a big run, as had also
| the eulogies of Henry B. Anthony. When
| ever a big speech is made we always have to
| get out a lot of pamphlet copies of it.
Speaking of Beck, he is well liked at the
| government printing office. His copy is
| always rightly PACED and it shows study.
'As to the other Senators, Edmunds never
writes speech, and Morgan, of Alabama,
is known in the Government Printing Office
as Old Perpetual Motion. He is always
| talking and never lacks something to say.
| Senator Sherman's speeches are largely die
| tated to his private secretary. He writes a
rather plain hand, almost effeminate in its
character He is more particular about its
| expression than he is about the comfort of
the printer, and he is particular to have
himself well reported. Lamar
used to bring a secretary to the Gov
eminent Printing Office whenever he made
big speech, and the two would stay there
and correct and recorrect the proof until
| they got it just to suit them. Lamar has
an elegant STYLE and his speeches always
| read like classical essays. When Jones, of
Nevada, delivered his great silver speech he
brought his private secretary to the office
with him. The speech was a long one, and
it covered $50 pages, think, of the Con-
greSSiOndL Record. During the reading
the secretary ventured to advise
some change, when Jones asked: Who in
the ID is making this speech, young man,
you or me?"